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R1 54.At6  D84  Biographical  memoir 


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Columbia  Untoergitp 

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College  of  iPfjpgtctans;  anb  burgeons 
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IN   MEMORIAM. 


WASHINGTON  LEMUEL  ATLEE. 

The  career  of  a  self-made  man,  whose  skill,  industry, 
and  determination  have  been  crowned  by  eminent  position, 
is  always  worthy  of  recital,  to  stimulate  the  rising  genera- 
tion to  an  imitation  of  his  virtues.  When  this  career  is  at 
the  same  time  that  of  a  physician  who  has  bravely  battled 
with  professional  prejudice  to  advance  medical  science,  and 
who  has  contributed  greatly  to  ease  of  management  and 
certainty  of  results  in  the  most  difficult  and  doubtful  realms 
of  surgery,  a  rapid  sketch  of  the  leading  incidents  of  his 
life  and  the  traits  of  his  character  cannot  fail  to  interest 
his  professional  brethren.  It  is  the  mournful  duty  of  the 
writer,  with  the  reverence  due  to  his  teacher  in  medicine, 
and  with  the  affection  cemented  by  a  still  closer  tie,  faith- 
fully, if  imperfectly,  to  attempt  this  delineation. 

Dr.  Washington  Lemuel  Atlee  was  born  at  Lancas- 
ter, Penn.,  February  22,  1808.  He  was  a  descendant  of  an 
old  English  family.  "The  Atlees,"  says  a  recent  writer, 
"  reached  distinction  very  early  in  the  history  of  England. 
Contemporaneous  with  Richard  Cceur  de  Lion  was  Sir  Rich- 
ard Atte  Lee,  who  appears  conspicuously  in  the  ballads  of 
Robin  Hood,  and  who  is  represented  in  the  "  Lytell  Geste  " 
as  saying,  — 

"  '  An  hondreth  wynter  here  before 
Myne  Aunsetters  Knyghtes  have  be.' 

Antiquarians  mention  others  of  the  name  who  lived  later, 
and  were  of  almost  equal  note."1 

1  Pennsylvania  Magazine  of  History  and  Biography,  vol.  ii.,  No.  I, 
1878. 


2  IN  MEMORIAM. 

But  to  come  nearer  to  our  own  time  we  find  that  "  Wil- 
liam Atlee,  of  Ford-Hooke  House,  England,  married,  against 
the  wishes  of  his  family,  Jane  Alcock,  a  cousin  of  William 
Pitt,  and  being,  perhaps  for  that  reason,  thrown  upon  his 
own  resources,  obtained,  through  the  assistance  of  Pitt,  a 
position  as  secretary  to  Lord  Howe.  He  came  with  Howe 
to  America,  landing  in  Philadelphia,  in  July,  1734."  1 

His  son,  the  Hon.  William  Augustus  Atlee,  was  an  ac- 
tive Whig  during  the  Revolutionary  War,  and  was  one  of 
the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Pennsylvania.  His 
term  extended  from  1777  until  the  establishment  of  a  new 
court  comprising  the  counties  of  Chester,  Lancaster,  York, 
and  Dauphin,  of  which  he  was  made  President  Judge, 
August  17,  1 79 1,  which  position  he  filled  until  his  death 
in  1793. 

He  left  several  children,  amongst  whom  was  William 
Pitt  Atlee,  Esq.,  a  lawyer,  who  married  Miss  Light,  the 
daughter  of  Major  John  Light,  an  officer  in  the  Revolution- 
ary army.  They  had  six  children,  of  whom  the  subject  of 
this  memoir  was  the  youngest.  When  he  had  reached  the 
age  of  seven  years  his  father  died,  leaving  him  under  the 
care  of  his  grandparents.  While  with  them,  he  continued 
at  school  pursuing  the  ordinary  English  studies  until  he  was 
fourteen  years  old,  when,  contrary  to  his  own  wishes,  he  was 
placed  in  a  dry-goods  and  grocery  store. 

His  dissatisfaction  with  a  commercial  life  increased  with 
time,  but  he  bore  with  it  for  fifteen  months,  when,  unwilling 
longer  to  remain  in  a  business  for  which  he  had  no  liking, 
he  determined  to  leave  it,  and  emphasized  his  resolve  by 
springing  over  the  counter,  and,  going  directly  to  his  oldest 
brother,  Dr.  John  Light  Atlee,  now  one  of  our  Honorary 
Fellows,  announced  his  wish  to  study  medicine. 

Seeing  that  he  was  thoroughly  in  earnest,  his  brother 
agreed  to  aid  him,  made  him  a  member  of  his  family,  and 
directed  him  in  his  studies.  Thus  encouraged  he  worked 
with  ardor,  and  with  the  aid  of  tutors  supplied  the  defic- 

1  Pennsylvania  Magazine  of  History  and  Biography,  vol.  ii.,  No.  I, 
1878. 


WASHINGTON  LEMUEL  ATLEE.  3 

iency  of  an  early  classical  training,  studying  at  the  same 
time  French,  German,  philosophy,  and  the  natural  sciences. 

He  entered  the  Jefferson  Medical  College  in  the  winter 
of  1826-27,  where  his  industry  and  talents  attracted  the 
attention  of  Dr.  George  McClellan,  the  Professor  of  Sur- 
gery, who  invited  him  to  become  his  private  pupil.  Here 
"  he  formed  one  of  a  class  of  fourteen  or  fifteen  pupils,  most 
of  them  remarkable  for  their  intellectual  powers,  refinement, 
and  high  promise.  Of  that  band,"  says  Professor  Gross 
"  —  of  whom  not  more  than  three  remain  —  Atlee  was  one 
of  the  most  conspicuous ;  tall,  erect,  and  handsome  in  per- 
son, he  was  remarkably  neat  in  his  appearance,  and  pos- 
sessed of  an  amount  of  industry,  intelligence,  and  ambition, 
which  foreshadowed  his  future  success.  Young  as  he  was, 
it  was  apparent  that  he  had  a  highly  inquisitive  mind,  that 
he  was  constantly  in  search  of  new  truths,  and  that  he  was 
determined  to  attain  to  distinction  in  his  profession."  The 
influence  of  Dr.  McClellan  on  such  an  ardent  young  man 
was  unbounded,  and  can  be  easily  understood  when  we  read 
what  Professor  Gross,  a  fellow  student  with  Atlee,  says  of 
him. 

"  I  well  remember  my  first  interview  with  him,  the  cor- 
dial pressure  of  his  hand,  his  kind  manner,  and  the  warm 
interest  he  manifested  in  my  welfare.  There  was  a  mag- 
netism about  him  that  put  me  at  once  at  my  ease,  and  made 
me  feel  at  home  in  his  presence."  "  McClellan,  as  the  name 
would  seem  to  imply,  was  of  Scotch  descent,  with  a  con- 
siderable amount  of  Yankee  infusion.  To  this  blending  of 
nationalities  he  no  doubt  owed  the  great  dominant  elements 
of  his  character ;  his  ardent  temperament,  his  wonderful  en- 
thusiasm, his  untiring  energy,  his  thirst  for  knowledge,  his 
dauntless  courage,  his  unceasing  restlessness,  and  his  bound- 
less ambition.  The  word  failure  found  no  place  in  his  vo- 
cabulary." 2 

It  is  not  surprising  that  such  a  man  had  a  wonderful  in- 
fluence on  his  students.     Even  in  1874,  Dr.  Atlee  writes 

1  An  Address  to  the  Alumni  Association  of  the  Jefferson  Medical 
College,  by  S.  D.  Gross,  M.  D.,  LL.  D.,  etc.,  March  11,  1871. 


4  IN  MEMORIAM. 

of  him  as  one  "  whose  memory  is  sacred  in  the  hearts  of 
his  surviving  pupils." 

Stimulated  by  the  example  and  guided  by  the  counsels 
of  this  great  teacher,  the  efforts  of  young  Atlee  were  re- 
doubled, and  on  his  return  to  Lancaster  to  enjoy  his  sum- 
mer vacation,  he  at  once  engaged  in  practice  amongst  the 
poor,  almost  living  in  the  Lancaster  County  Hospital.  His 
efforts  were  so  successful,  and  he  became  so  popular,  that, 
before  he  received  his  degree,  he  had  attended  forty  cases 
of  obstetrics.  Of  all  these  cases,  and  in  fact  of  all  cases 
which  appeared  important  to  him,  he  kept  copious  notes, 
and  frequently  completed  the  notes  by  criticising  the  treat- 
ment. This  habit  of  keeping  notes  of  his  cases,  he  con- 
tinued until  within  a  few  weeks  of  his  death,  a  habit  which 
cannot  be  too  highly  commended  to  young  practitioners. 

His  connection  with  the  hospital  gave  him  abundant  op- 
portunity to  study  practical  anatomy,  of  which  he  was  very 
fond,  and  much  of  his  leisure  was  occupied  in  dissection,  in 
the  failure  of  a  supply  of  human  bodies  resorting  to  those  of 
animals.  Nor  did  these  engagements  fully  occupy  his  time, 
for,  "during  the  summer  of  1827-28,  he  actively  pursued 
the  study  of  botany,  and  was  a  correspondent  of  Dr.  Wil- 
liam P.  C.  Barton,  then  Professor  of  Materia  Medica  and 
Botany  in  the  Jefferson  Medical  College.  He  collected 
about  four  hundred  specimens  of  Lancaster  County  plants 
into  an  herbarium,  accompanied  with  a  written  description 
of  each  plant,  which  collection  he  subsequently  presented  to 
the  Linnean  Society  of  Pennsylvania  College,  at  Gettys- 
burg, Penn."1 

Continuing  these  industrious  habits,  he  returned  to  Phil- 
adelphia, attended  another  course  of  lectures,  and  grad- 
uated in  the  spring  of  1829.  The  subject  of  his  thesis 
was  "  Parotitis  Gangrenosa,"  an  original  title,  the  case  de- 
scribed in  it  having  occurred  in  his  own  practice.  Inde- 
pendent in  spirit,  Dr.  Atlee,  in  entering  upon  his  career, 
felt  a  manly  pleasure  in  relying  upon  his  own  exertions.    It 

1  Biographical  Sketch  of  Washington  L.  Atlee,  M.  D.,  by  J    M. 
Toner,  M.  D.,  of  Washington.  D.  C. 


WASHINGTON  LEMUEL  ATLEE.  5 

was  this  spirit  which  led  him  to  repay  with  interest,  as  his 
practice  increased,  all  the  expenses  of  his  education.  To 
accomplish  this  he  felt  the  importance  of  speedily  acquir- 
ing a  remunerative  practice,  and  believing  a  small  town  to 
promise  the  most  rapid  advance  in  the  earlier  years  of  pro- 
fessional life,  he  selected  Mount  Joy  as  a  suitable  place  for 
his  first  settlement. 

Mount  Joy  was  at  that  time  a  small  village,  about  twelve 
miles  from  Lancaster.  Here  he  continued  to  fit  himself  by 
study  for  a  larger  field,  and  evinced  that  public  spirit  for 
which  he  was  always  noted,  by  originating  a  temperance 
society,  and  a  lyceum.  Before  the  society  he  delivered  a 
lecture  on  temperance,  which  was  so  well  received  that  it 
was  published.  He  also  delivered  a  course  of  lectures  on 
botany,  and  some  lectures  on  the  falling  stars  of  November, 
1833,  besides  reading  many  miscellaneous  papers  before  the 
lyceum. 

Of  course,  his  practice  at  first  was  small,  but  it  soon  in- 
creased, and,  his  reputation  spreading  widely,  he  was  sum- 
moned long  distances  into  the  country  in  surgical  cases. 
An  account  of  one  of  the  first  of  these  will  illustrate  his 
readiness  in  an  emergency  even  at  that  early  date.  A  mes- 
senger on  horseback  came  for  him  in  extreme  haste  to  see 
a  boy  who  had  been  gored  by  a  furious  cow  which  had 
just  calved.  Placing  his  instruments  and  plaster  in  his 
pocket  he  sprang  up  behind  the  rider,  and  was  soon  car- 
ried to  the  scene  of  the  trouble. 

He  found  the  abdominal  muscles  frighfully  gashed,  but 
the  semi-transparent  peritoneum,  showing  the  bowel  like  a 
glass  in  front,  unwounded.  Placing  his  hand  in  his  pocket, 
to  his  dismay  he  found  that  in  the  rapid  ride  he  had  lost  his 
instruments.  He  was  equal  to  the  occasion,  however,  and 
by  means  of  the  plaster  he  succeeded  in  dressing  the 
wound,  his  patient  making  a  good  recovery. 

While  at  Mount  Joy,  he  was  married  to  a  lady  to  whom 
he  had  been  long  attached,  Miss  A.  E.  Hoff,  daughter  of 
John  Hoff,  Esq.,  of  Lancaster.  The  union  proved  exceed- 
ingly happy,  and  ten  children  were  born  to  them,  six  of 


6  IN  MEMORIAM. 

whom  survive  their  father,  Mrs.  Atlee  having  died  eight 
years  before  her  husband. 

In  the  autumn  of  1834  he  removed  to  his  native  city,  and 
was  soon  elected  to  the  staff  of  the  Lancaster  County  Hos- 
pital. In  1837,  he  was  appointed  Treasurer  to  the  Com- 
missioners of  Lancaster  County.  He  continued  energeti- 
cally at  work,  and  was  rewarded  by  a  large  practice.  But 
while  attending  to  other  duties  he  did  not  neglect  the  study 
of  the  higher  departments  of  his  profession.  The  series 
of  experiments,  successfully  made  at  his  suggestion,  upon 
the  body  of  Moselmann,  who  was  executed  for  murder,  at 
the  time  attracted  considerable  attention.  The  influence 
of  electricity  upon  the  human  body  was  then  comparatively 
unknown,  and  the  experiments  were  viewed  with  so  great 
interest,  that  some  of  the  leading  physicians  of  Philadelphia 
came  to  witness  them,  although  the  journey  from  Philadel- 
phia was,  at  that  day,  a  tedious  one.  These  experiments 
were  published  in  the  "  American  Journal  of  the  Medical 
Sciences'*  for  May,  1840. 

"  He  was  also  active  in  originating  an  association  called 
the  '  Lancaster  Conservatory  of  Arts  and  Sciences,'  before 
which  he  gave  a  course  of  lectures  on  hygiene,  besides 
other  scientific  and  miscellaneous  lectures."  Nor  was  he 
less  active  in  assisting  to  establish  the  Lancaster  County 
Medical  Society.  Soon  after  his  return  to  Lancaster,  he 
gave  a  regular  course  of  lectures  on  chemistry  to  private 
classes.  This  he  continued  for  several  years,  and  also  de- 
livered one  public  course  before  the  Mechanic's  Institute  of 

that  place. 

These  efforts  established  his  reputation  as  a  lecturer  on 
chemistry,  and  led  to  his  receiving  an  invitation,  in  1844,  to 
fill  the  chair  of  Medical  Chemistry  in  the  Medical  Depart- 
ment of  Pennsylvania  College,  at  Philadelphia.  This  he 
accepted  temporarily,  and  lectured  there  the  following  ses- 
sion, after  which  he  returned  to  Lancaster  and  resumed  his 
practice  ;  but  in  the  fall  of  1845  he  fully  accepted  the  posi- 
tion, and  removed  his  family  to  Philadelphia,  which  from 
that  time  he  made  his  permanent  residence.     His  lectures 


WASHINGTON  LEMUEL  ATLEE.  y 

proved  very  acceptable  to  his  class  ;  for  he  was  amongst 
the  first  to  abandon  the  old  routine  course  of  lecturing,  and 
by  excluding  that  portion  of  chemistry  which  had  no  direct 
bearing  on  the  science  of  medicine,  he  made  apparent  the 
practical  use  of  this  branch  to  the  medical  student. 

His  practice,  which  was  then  general,  increased  very  rap- 
idly, and  occupied  so  much  of  his  time  that  he  found  it 
extremely  burdensome  to  continue  his  lectures,  but  he  did 
not  sever  his  connection  with  the  college  until  the  spring 
of  1852,  when  he  resigned  his  professorship,  and  devoted 
himself  almost  exclusively  to  surgical  and  gynecological 
practice. 

Surgery  had  always  been  his  favorite  pursuit,  and  when 
he  accepted  the  chair  of  chemistry,  it  was  with  the  under- 
standing that  he  should  ultimately  be  transferred  to  that  of 
surgery,  but  some  inexplicable  policy  had  continued  to  post- 
pone the  change.  Now  he  was  free  to  pursue  his  course 
untrammeled  by  a  position  which,  for  a  long  time,  he  had 
felt  was  incompatible  with  the  reputation  which  he  had  es- 
tablished as  a  surgeon. 

While  still  in  Lancaster  he  was  known  as  a  skillful  and 
courageous  operator,  and  the  publication  of  some  of  his 
cases  in  the  "  American  Journal  of  the  Medical  Sciences," 
had  also  introduced  him  favorably  to  the  medical  public ; 
but,  before  leaving  that  city,  he  performed  and  published 
two  operations  which  fixed  the  eye  of  the  profession  upon 
him  as  a  dangerous  innovator,  as  a  man  who  had  been  per- 
forming an  operation  which  had  been  previously  under- 
taken, and  had  proved  so  unsuccessful  that  it  had  been 
condemned  even  by  some  of  those  who  had  practised  it  — 
ovariotomy. 

Besides,  there  was  a  cloud  of  doubt  and  distrust  which 
hung  over  the  early  history  of  this  operation,  which  had 
not  then  been  cleared  away,  and  further  it  had  been  at- 
tempted but  by  few  men  of  note,  most  of  whom,  after  a 
brief  trial,  had  abandoned  it,  both  on  account  of  its  fatality, 
and  the  difficulty  attending  the  diagnosis. ,  In  fact  ovari- 
otomy was   an  operation   universally  denounced,    and  he 


8  IN  MEMORIAM. 

must  be  a  brave  and  determined  man  who  should  dare  at- 
tempt to  establish  its  legitimacy.  This  he  proposed  to  do, 
his  early  experience  having  led  him  to  believe  it  a  justifi- 
able measure. 

To  show  how  carefully  and  conscientiously  he  prepared 
himself  for  the  difficult  task  before  him,  and  also  to  show 
how  great  was  the  odium  brought  upon  him  by  its  perform- 
ance, his  own  words  must  be  quoted.  After  claiming  for 
Ephraim  McDowell  the  honor  of  being  the  first  to  perform 
ovariotomy,  he  proceeds  x :  — 

"On  the  29th  of  June,  1843, 2  my  brother  performed  ovari- 
otomy on  an  unmarried  lady,  aged  25  years.  This  was  the  first 
time  that  both  ovaries  were  removed.  The  patient  is  still  living 
and  in  excellent  health.  Being  associated  with  him  in  the  case, 
I  commenced  studying  the  literature  of  the  operation,  and  soon 
realized  the  bold  and  important  step  taken  thirty-four  years  be- 
fore by  McDowell  of  Kentucky. 

"Living  at  that  time  in  the  city  of  Lancaster,  I  ransacked 
every  library  in  the  place.  After  this  I  visited  Philadelphia, 
gained  access  to  several  of  its  large  medical  libraries,  and  spent 
considerable  time  in  collecting  and  collating  all  that  had  any 
bearing  upon  the  subject  of  ovariotomy.  I  believe  that  every- 
thing that  had  ever  been  reported  was  thoroughly  gleaned  from 
every  part  of  the  world.  The  result  of  this  great  labor  was  the 
publication  of  one  hundred  and  one  operations  in  '  The  Amer- 
ican Journal  of  the  Medical  Sciences,'  April,  1845,  page  330. 
This  table  was  originally  prepared  for  my  own  use  ;  a  new  edition 
of  it,  containing  two  hundred  and  twenty-two  cases  of  ovariotomy, 
was  published  in  185 1  in  the  'Transactions  of  the  American 
Medical  Association'  for  that  year,  page  286. 

"  My  first  operation  was  performed  March  29,  1844,  on  a  mar- 
ried lady  sixty-one  years  of  age.  It  proved  fatal.8  It  was  on 
the  banks  of  the  Chicquesalunga,  Lancaster  County.  In  travel- 
ing westward  on  the  Pennsylvania  Central  Railroad,  soon  after 
passing  Landisville  station,  a  small  stream  is  crossed,  on  the  op- 

1  A  Retrospect  of  the  Struggles  and  Triumph  of  Ovariotomy  in 
Philadelphia,  etc.,  by  Washington  L.  Atlee,  M.  D. 

2  A7nerican  Journal  of  the  Medical  Sciences,  January,  1844,  p.  44. 
8  American  Journal  of  the  Medical  Sciences,  July,  1844,  p.  43. 


WASHINGTON  LEMUEL  ATLEE.  9 

posite  bank  of  which  and  on  the  right-hand  side  stands  a  one- 
story  brick  tenement.  It  was  in  this  house,  after  many  days  and 
nights  of  intense  anxiety,  that  I  first  essayed  this  operation.  I 
can  never  pass  it  without  emotion.  It  is  the  text  for  many,  many 
thoughts.  No  one  can  know  the  mental  and  moral  conflicts  of 
that  hour,  and  I  cannot  describe  them.  In  that  humble  spot  be- 
gan the  great  battle  of  my  professional  life,  a  battle,  on  my  part, 
unsought,  yet  firmly  maintained  on  the  defensive  ;  because,  al- 
though this  effort  was  unfortunate,  I  had  weighed  the  matter  well, 
and  my  convictions  were  on  the  side  of  humanity  and  duty.  With 
the  axiom  that  truth  must  prevail,  I  determined  to  take  my  posi- 
tion." \ 

"  My  second  operation  was  performed  in  the  city  of  Lancaster, 
August  28,  1844,  on  an  unmarried  lady  twenty-four  years  of  age. 
She  recovered.  The  public  record  of  the  case  contains  these 
words:  'I  pledge  myself  to  the  profession  to  treat  this  subject 

1  In  reporting  this  case  he  added  some  remarks  from  which  the  fol- 
lowing extracts  are  taken  to  show  the  stand  he  took  at  that  early 
day:  — 

"  I  have  given  this  unfortunate  case  in  full  detail,  in  a  conscious 
spirit  of  truth  and  candor,  because  it  is  an  unsttccessful  one.  It  is  not 
so  much  to  avoid  the  censure  of  'keeping  studiously  and  carefully 
from  the  public  eye  the  unsuccessful  cases  of  the  operation '  (Mr.  Law- 
rence), which  is  a  species  of  dishonesty  and  empiricism  deserving  un- 
qualified condemnation,  as  to  do  an  act  of  professional  duty  peremp- 
torily required  by  the  unsettled  position  of  this  operation  in  the  minds 
of  the  most  eminent  surgeons,  that  induces  me  to  its  publication.  I 
have  carefully  avoided  giving  any  color  to  the  case,  save  what  its  symp- 
toms have  expressed,  and  I  am  perfectly  willing  to  furnish  it  as  one 
of  the  numerical  arguments  against  ovariotomy.  Still,  candidly  admit- 
ting the  case  to  be  fairly  one  of  unsuccess,  notwithstanding  the  miti- 
gating circumstances  of  age,  constitution,  and  insidious  inflammation, 
I,  as  confidently  as  ever,  consider  the  operation  justifiable  in  appro- 
priate^cases  of  a  disease  otherwise  desperate  and  incurable,  and  where 
it  '  secures  the  only  remaining  chance  of  life.' " 

And  again  :  "  There  are  sins  of  omission  as  well  as  of  commission. 
The  good  of  our  neighbor,  and  our  professional  duty,  always  obligate 
us  to  risk  our  reputation  in  contributing  to  the  one,  and  in  properly  ex- 
ercising the  other ;  and  if,  when  relief  can  be  afforded  in  a  horrible 
and  fatal  disease,  we  are  unwilling  to  hazard  our  fame,  or  take  respon- 
sibility in  consequence  of  danger,  then,  indeed,  we  prostitute  a  high 
and  holy  office,  fail  to  exercise  it  purely,  and  will  have  to  give  an  ac- 
count of  it  hereafter." 


IO  IN  MEMORIAM. 

in  all  truth  and  candor  ;  to  falsify,  omit,  or  withhold  nothing  • 
and  to  write  down  errors,  if  such  there  be,  in  honesty  and  with- 
out fear  —  taking  censure  when  deserved.  In  the  decision  of  a 
matter  of  such  weight  to  humanity,  personal  sacrifices  ought  to 
be  utterly  disregarded.  If  this  operation  is  to  be  established  it 
must  be  on  correct  statements  ;  if  it  fail  on  such  testimony,  it 
fails  justly  and  forever.  But  if  its  establishment  be  attempted 
on  falsified  reports  and  withheld  facts,  then  human  life  must  fall 
a  sacrifice  to  personal  and  professional  dishonesty,  and  the  effort 
must  necessarily  die,  covered  with  a  mantle  of  human  gore.  Let 
the  question,  therefore,  be  met  as  it  ought  to  be,  -nd  its  history 
be  a  record  of  truth.' *  This  pledge  was  made  thirty  years  ago, 
and  has  been  faithfully  carried  out.     The  result  is  known. 

"My  third  operation  —  the  first  case  in  Philadelphia  —  was 
performed  on  the  15th  of  March,  1849.  It  was  long  before  this, 
however,  that  I  found,  upon  moving  to  Philadelphia,  I  had 
roused  up  a  hornet's  nest.  Ovariotomy  was  everywhere  decried. 
It  was  denounced  by  the  general  profession,  in  the  medical  so- 
cieties,, in  all  the  medical  colleges,  and  even  discouraged  by  the 
majority  of  my  own  colleagues.  I  was  misrepresented  before  the 
medical  public,  and  was  pointed  at  as  a  dangerous  man,  even  as 
a  murderer.  The  opposition  went  so  far  that  a  celebrated  pro- 
fessor—  a  popular  teacher  and  captivating  writer  —  in  his  pub- 
lished lectures  invoked  the  law  to  arrest  me  in  the  performance 
of  this  operation ! 

"  Let  me  refer  to  this  early  history  more  in  detail. 

"  It  is  well  known  that  from  the  earliest  period  of  ovariotomy 
in  Philadelphia  down  to  the  present  time  it  has  been  my  invaria- 
ble custom  to  invite  members  of  the  profession  to  witness  the 
operation,  in  order  that  they  might  be  able  to  form  a  proper 
opinion  of  its  character,  and  to  judge  of  its  propriety.  There 
was  not  a  prominent  medical  gentleman  in  this  city  that  had  not 
such  an  opportunity.  It  was  a  rare  circumstance,  during  the 
probationary  stage  of  the  operation,  for  any  one  to  accept  the 
invitation  cordially  and  gratefully.  Some  did  so  coldly,  as  if 
conferring  a  favor  upon  me.  Others  politely  declined.  Others 
positively  refused  and  emphatically  condemned  the  operation, 
while  others  took  the  invitation  as  an  insult.  And,  what  is 
most  remarkable,  the  strongest  opposition  came  from  those  who 
had  never  seen  the  operation,  who  would  not  consent  to  see  it, 

1  American  Journal  of  the  Medical  Sciences,  April,  1845,  P-  324- 


WASHINGTON  LEMUEL  ATLEE.  \\ 

and  who  consequently  knew  nothing  about  it ;  while  those  who 
reluctantly  ventured  to  witness  it,  as  a  general  rule,  gradually 
modified  their  adverse  opinions,  and  finally  became  advocates 
for  it. 

"  Gentlemen  who  were  bold  enough  to  witness  the  operation, 
were  even  directly  accused  by  their  professional  acquaintances  of 
being  '  particeps  criminis '  in  committing  murder,  notwithstand- 
ing these  murdered  patients  recovered !  Some,  high  in  the  pro- 
fession, against  all  ethical  considerations,  would  call  upon  pa- 
tients, who  had  fully  decided  upon  the  operation,  for  the  purpose 
of  warning  them  against  me  and  certain  death.  The  day  be- 
fore I  operated  upon  my  first  patient  in  Philadelphia  an  eminent 
surgeon  called  upon  her  to  assure  her  that  she  would  certainly  be 
dead  in  twenty-four  hours.  Twenty-four  hours  after  the  opera- 
tion I  requested  him  to  visit  her,  and  her  condition  was  such  that 
he  would  not  believe  that  she  had  been  meddled  with  until  I  ex- 
posed the  wound.  This  lady  is  still  living  in  good  health,  and 
since  then  has  survived  two  miscarriages,  the  removal  of  an  im- 
.mense  tumor  from  the  neck,  and  an  operation  for  cataract  in 
both  eyes.  Another  medical  gentleman,  whose  patient  came  to 
me  against  his  positive  remonstrance,  attended  the  operation  for 
the  express  purpose  of  being  with  her  when  she  died  on  the 
operating  table.  She  did  not  die  and  still  lives,  although  both 
ovaries  were  removed  ;  and  he  left  the  room  a  convert  to  ovari- 
otomy. 

"  The  colleges,  as  stated,  proclaimed  fiercely  against  the  opera- 
tion as  unjustifiable  and  criminal.  Sometimes  the  professors 
would  go  out  of  their  way  to  denounce  it.  One  eminent  sur- 
geon, now  dead,  after  the  occurrence  of  a  fatal  case  in  185 1, 
opened  his  lecture  on  surgery  in  words  like  these :  '  Gentlemen, 
it  is  my  painful  duty  to  announce  to  you  that  a  respectable  lady 
who,  a  few  days  ago,  came  from  New  York  to  this  city  with  an 
ovarian  tumor,  which  was  removed  by  Dr.  Atlee,  returned  to  that 
city  to-day  a  corpse.'  This  was  particularly  marked,  as  it  had 
no  relation  to  the  subject  of  that  lecture.  It  was  not  uncommon 
for  medical  men  to  refuse  to  meet  me  in  consultation,  for  no 
other  reason  than  my  persistence  in  performing  ovariotomy.  A 
prominent  surgeon,  then  belonging  to  the  staff  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Hospital,  upon  being  called  out  at  night  to  see  one  of  my 
patients,  when  I  was  sick  in  bed,  after  prescribing,  and  without 
his  having  been  solicited  to  join  in  the  treatment  of  the  case, 


1 2  IN  MEMORIAM. 

voluntarily  said :  '  Tell  Dr.  Atlee  that  I  will  not  meet  him  in  con- 
sultation, because  he  undertakes  to  perform  operations  not  recog- 
nized by  the  profession.'  Another,  in  passing  along  Arch  Street, 
opposite  my  house,  in  company  with  others,  exclaimed  :  '  There 
lives  the  greatest  quack  in  Philadelphia.'  And  yet  this  same 
gentleman  is  now  an  ovariotomist  himself.  Even  my  own  col- 
leagues, with  the  exception  of  Professor  Grant,  discountenanced 
the  operation,  and  endeavored  to  convince  me  of  my  error. 

"  Permit  me  now  to  recall  the  published  opinions  of  some  of 
the  celebrated  men  of  a  former  day.  At  the  opening  of  the  ses- 
sion of  1844-45  °f  Jefferson  Medical  College,  Professor  Thomas  D. 
Mutter,  in  his  introductory  address,  used  these  expressive  words  : 
'  A  distinguished  philosopher  has  classed  man  among  the  most 
cruel  of  all  animals Certain  it  is  that  some  of  our  opera- 
tions may  be  considered  as  supporting,  to  a  limited  degree,  the 
charge  made  against  our  race  ;  and  there  is  none  in  the  whole 
domain  of  surgery  better  calculated  to  elicit,  even  among  the 
profession,  a  more  profound  sensation  of  horror,  or  better  de- 
serves the  epithet  of  cruel,  than  one  recently  introduced  into 
practice •  and  were  we  not  convinced  that  nothing  but  a  fervent 
desire  to  relieve  a  suffering  mortal  could  induce  a  surgeon  to  un- 
dertake its  performance,  we  should  at  once  look  upon  its  author 
as  a  being  destitute  of  either  sympathy  or  compassion,  and  richly 
deserving  the  detestation  of  his  fellow-men.  The  operation  to 
which  I  refer  is  that  for  the  removal  of  ovarian  tumors.' 

"In  1853,  Joshua  B.  Flint,  M.  D.,  of  Louisville,  Professor  of 
Surgery  in  the  Kentucky  School  of  Medicine,  presented  a  report 
on  surgery  to  the  State  Medical  Society,  in  which  he  outraged 
professional  ethics  in  his  opposition  to  ovariotomists,  and,  like 
the  unclean  bird,  defiled  his  own  nest  by  unjustly  denouncing 
McDowell. 

"  In  speaking  of  my  table,  Dr.  Flint  exclaims  :  '  It  is  remark- 
able, that  among  men  who,  according  to  this  table,  have  sought 
to  distinguish  themselves  by  this  operation,  we  do  not  find  Du- 
puytren,  nor  Delpech,  nor  Larry,  nor  Roux,  nor  any  of  their 
illustrious  contemporaries  in  France ;  nor  the  Hunters,  the  Coop- 
ers, the  Bells,  Abernethy,  or  even  Liston,  among  British  sur- 
geons;   nor  Physick,  nor  Post,  nor  Mott,1  nor  Dudley,  of  our 

1  Dr.  Mott,  though  his  name  was  not  on  my  table,  was  favorable  to 
tne  operation,  and  assisted  his  son-in-law,  Dr.  Van  Buren,  in  a  case, 
which  was  published  in  the  New  York  Journal  of  Medicine,  March, 


WASHINGTON  LEMUEL  ATLEE.  13 

own  country,   although  it  can  scarcely  be  doubted  that  all  of 
them  had  frequent  opportunities  of  so  doing.' 

"  In  speaking  of  '  Dr.  Clay,  of  Manchester,  Dr.  Bird,  of  Lon- 
don, and  Dr.  Washington  Atlee,  of  our  own  country,'  Dr.  Flint 
says  :  '  It  is  certain  that  neither  of  them  has  attained  to  the 
position  of  an  authority  in  the  commonwealth  of  surgery ;  and 
the  force  of  their  testimony  to  the  propriety  and  value  of  the 
operation  is,  moreover,  very  much  impaired  by  the  suspicious 
attitude  in  which  they  stand  to  it,  in  having  made  it  a  sort  of 
specialty,  than  which  nothing  is  more  trying  to  professional  in- 
tegrity.' Now  I  can  speak  for  myself,  and  also  for  Drs.  Clay 
and  Bird,  that  neither  of  us  was  a  specialist,  and  although  we 
had  not  attained  to  the  position  of  an  authority,  there  was  no 
stain  upon  our  '  professional  integrity,'  and  that  the  cases  re- 
ported were  true  in  every  particular.  The  fads  presented  were 
offered  only  as  authority,  and  stand  this  day,  as  they  stood  then, 
on  the  foundation  of  truth,  unchallenged  and  unchangeable  by 
time. 

"  Another  distinguished  gentleman,  Professor  Meigs,  thus  em- 
phatically expressed  himself  :  '  I  detest  all  abdominal  surgery.' 1 
'  I  am  free  to  say,  that  I  look  upon  all  operations  for  the  extir- 
pation of  the  diseased  ovary  as  not  to  be  justified  by  the  most 
fortunate  issue  in  any  ratio  whatever  of  the  cases.' 2  Or,  in 
other  words  :  '  not  to  be  justified  by  any  amount  of  success.' 8 
Again  :  '  Dr.  Atlee's  coolness  in  cutting  open  a  woman's  belly 
does  not,  I  should  think,  entitle  him  to  judge  more  clearly  than 

I  as  to  the  morals  of  such  surgery Dr.  Atlee  likes  them  ' 

[ovarian  operations] ;  '  on  the  contrary,  I  detest  them,  and 
should  be  glad  to  see  them  prevented  by  statute.'  Again, 
while  discussing  '  a  question  of  high  morals  '  before  the  young 
gentlemen  of  his  class,  Professor  Meigs  says  :  '  I  should  be  glad 
if  you  would  look  over  the  statistics  of  ovariotomy  to  discover 
how  many  bellies  have  been  ripped  up  by  the  surgeons  in  the 
expectation  of  having  the  blessed  satisfaction  and  praise  of  cur- 
ing a  tumor.  Suppose  a  surgeon  to  open  a  woman's  belly  to 
extirpate  an  ovary ;  that  he  finds  no  ovary  there,  that  he  then  sews 

1852,  and  republished  in  the  Amer.  Jour,  of  Med.  Sciences,  April,  1852, 
and  must  have  been  seen  by  Dr.  Flint. 

1  Females  and  their  Diseases,  First  Edition,  1848,  p.  266. 

2  Colombat  on  Diseases  of  Females,  1849,  p.  418. 
8  Females  and  their  Diseases,  1848,  p.  314. 


14  IN  MEMORIAM. 

up  the  gash  ;  and  next,  that  she  dies  ;  what  should  the  attorney- 
general  say  ? ' x  Again  :  '  It  would  scarcely  be  unfair  to  say  of 
all  the  fatal  results  of  operation  for  extirpation  of  the  ovary 
that  the  patient  is  compelled  to  render  her  soul  to  God  and  her 
carcass  to  the  surgeon.2  ■ 

"  I  need  not  dwell  any  longer  on  these  early  phases  of  the 
history  of  ovariotomy.  My  contemporaries  of  the  past  are  fully 
aware  that  I  have  not  overdrawn  the  picture.  Ovariotomy,  both 
privately  and  publicly,  was  denounced  without  measure,  and  the 
weight  of  the  battle-axe  in  this  city  fell  upon  my  shoulders.  The 
same  opposition,  although  not  so  acrid  and  determined,  assailed 
the  operation  and  its  advocates  in  other  countries.  In  an  inno- 
vation so  momentous  this,  perhaps,  was  best ;  for  my  own  part, 
I  was  and  am  satisfied.  I  believe  my  opponents  were  honest  in 
their  convictions.  I  know  that  I  was,  and  as  my  actions  were 
based  upon  abundant  study  of  the  subject  in  all  its  aspects,  upon 
repeated  facts  constantly  recurring,  and  upon  the  success  attend- 
ing those  who  practiced  ovariotomy,  I  felt  assured  that  this  great 
battle  must  terminate  in  favor  of  science  and  humanity." 

These,  extracts  show  clearly  the  status  of  the  operation 
and  the  unmerited  opprobrium  visited  upon  those  who  had 
the  temerity  to  perform  it  at  that  early  day.  From  bitter 
experience  few,  indeed,  had  better  reason  to  know  than  he 
how  hard  it  was  to  convince  the  profession  that  it  was  justi- 
fiable. But  a  reward  was  in  store  for  a  struggle  of  years 
against  professional  prejudice  ;  for  he  became  so  identified 
in  the  public  mind  with  ovariotomy,  that  after  its  success 
was  established,  his  services  were  in  demand  on  every  side. 

He  verified  the  words  of  Bacon  :  "  If  a  man  perform 
that  which  hath  not  been  attempted  before,  or  attempted 
and  given  over,  or  hath  been  achieved  but  not  with  so 
good  circumstance,  he  shall  purchase  more  honor  than  by 
affecting  a  matter  of  greater  difficulty,  or  virtue,  wherein 
he  is  but  a  follower."  From  Maine,  from  California,  from 
North  and  South,  in  fact  from  every  State  and  Territory, 
continually  arrived  letters  urging  him  to  come  and  operate. 
He  visited,  for  this  purpose,  one  of  the  New  England  and 

1  Woman  and  her  Diseases,  Third  Edition,  p.  339. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  341. 

VOL.    III.  25 


WASHINGTON  LEMUEL  ATLEE.  1 5 

two  of  the  extreme  Southern  States  within  the  same  week. 
These  distant  cases  made  it  necessary  for  him  to  relinquish 
family  practice ;  but,  when  at  home,  he  was  kept  busy  with 
consultations,  and  his  offices  were  filled  by  patients,  many 
of  them  coming  from  long  distances  to  seek  relief  at  his 
hands.  His  success  was  great,  and  was  the  result,  not 
only  of  consummate  skill  and  care  as  an  operator,  but  of  the 
wonderful  diagnostic  tact  he  never  failed  to  manifest. 

As  an  operator  he  was  cool  and  fully  prepared  for  all 
emergencies.  He  avoided  a  needless  array,  and,  although 
having  a  full  reserve  of  instruments,  used  but  few.  His 
friend,  Professor  Gross,  in  speaking  of  this  says  :  "  With  the 
knife  he  was,  in  his  particular  line,  facile princeps.  He  ap- 
preciated the  aphorism  of  Desault,  that  simplicity  is  the 
perfection  of  an  operation.  He  rarely  used  more  than  one 
scalpel,  one  bistoury,  one  pair  of  forceps,  one  pair  of  scis- 
sors, and  one  needle.  He  had  a  just  horror  of  display.  The 
duties  having  been  duly  assigned  to  his  assistants,  every- 
thing proceeded  as  silently  as  possible,  with  the  regularity 
of  clockwork.  Always  self-possessed,  his  eye  never  quailed, 
his  hand  never  trembled." 

He  was  in  the  habit  of  giving  his  diagnosis  to  the  med- 
ical gentlemen  present  before  he  commenced  an  operation, 
and,  if  he  had  any  doubt,  he  told  it  plainly  and  gave  his 
reason  for  it.  This  of  course  afforded  all  present  an  op- 
portunity to  determine  of  the  correctness  of  his  opinions  ; 
and,  in  a  close  association  with  him  of  thirty  years,  I  can  re- 
call few  errors  of  judgment.  It  is  remarkable  that,  with  so 
little  leisure,  he  managed  to  perform  so  much  clerical  labor  ; 
for  he  carried  on  an  extensive  correspondence,  frequently 
contributed  to  the  journals,  wrote  an  octavo  volume  on 
ovarian  tumors,  besides  essays  on  subjects  connected  with 
gynecology,  and  kept  full  notes  of  all  important  cases,  re- 
cording them  the  day  they  occurred ;  nor  would  he  sleep 
until  all  intended  work  of  this  kind  had  been  accom- 
plished. 

Although  his  time  was  so  fully  occupied,  he  did  not  fail 
to  keep  himself  perfectly  familiar  with  the  medical  litera- 


1 6  IN  MEMORIAM. 

ture  of  the  day,  and  with  the  improvements  in  medicine ; 
and  none  was  more  ready  than  he,  to  recognize  and  adopt 
them.  He  also  added  to  the  success  of  his  operations  by 
planning  new  methods  of  procedure  in  particular  cases, 
among  which  may  be  mentioned,  the  use  of  the  ecraseur  to 
divide  the  pedicle  in  ovariotomy,  which  he  was  the  first  to 
employ  for  this  purpose,  June  19,  1857.  He  also  practiced 
enucleation  in  the  same  operation  as  early  as  July  25,  1850. 
Many  of  the  instruments  he  used  were  invented  or  im- 
proved by  himself,  as  for  instance,  the  well  known  clamp 
which  bears  his  name. 

He  was  the  first  to  indicate  clearly  the  importance  of 
tapping  as  a  means  of  diagnosis  in  obscure  cases  of  abdom- 
inal dropsy,  and,  also  the  first  to  point  out  the  true  value  of 
the  removed  fluids  for  the  same  purpose,  particularly  to 
differentiate  cysts  of  the  broad  ligament  and  fibro-cystic 
tumors  of  the  uterus  from  ovarian  tumors.  It  is  well  known 
to  surgeons  that  in  ovariotomy  the  thickened  and  opaque 
peritoneum  has  been  frequently  mistaken  for  the  cyst,  and 
separated  from  the  fascia  and  muscles  for  some  distance 
before  the  error  has  been  discovered.  This  mistake,  be- 
sides embarassing  the  operator  has  added  to  the  risk  of  the 
operation,  and  no  method  of  avoiding  it  was  known  until 
Dr.  Atlee  pointed  out  a  safe  and  valuable  guide,  depending 
upon  a  knowledge  of  the  anatomy  of  the  part,  by  which 
such  an  error  was  made  impossible.  His  test  is  the  pass- 
ing up  of  the  hand  or  of  a  sound  to  the  umbilicus,  where, 
if  it  be  peritoneum,  the  hand  is  arrested,  but  if  it  be  the 
cyst,  it  passes  easily. 

There  was  a  remarkable  originality  in  him,  which  was 
frequently  displayed  in  his  operations.  It  was  manifested 
in  his  case  of  vaginal  ovariotomy,  which  antedates  all 
others.1 

But,  perhaps,  this  was  more  strikingly  seen  in  his  opera- 
tion for  the  removal  of  uterine  fibroids.     His  first  case  of 
this  kind  occurred  in  1845.     Its  complete  success  fully  dis- 
proved  "  the   position  hitherto  esteemed  as  an  axiom  by 
1  Gynecological  Transactions,  vol.  ii.,  p.  266. 


WASHINGTON  LEMUEL  ATLEE.  1 7 

surgeons  of  authority,  that  polypus  of  the  uterus  cannot  be 
subjected  to  operative  measures  until  it  has  escaped  from 
the  uterine  cavity."  1  The  numerous  cases  following  this, 
he  embodied  in  a  paper  which  was  one  of  twelve  essays, 
presented  to  compete  for  the  prize  at  the  meeting  of  the 
American  Medical  Association,  held  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  in  1853.  His  paper  was  one  of  the  two  to  which  the 
prize  was  awarded.  It  was  entitled  "  The  Surgical  Treat- 
ment of  Certain  Fibrous  Tumors  of  the  Uterus,  heretofore 
considered  beyond  the  Resources  of  Art."  A  synopsis  of 
some  of  the  cases  contained  in  this  essay  was  previously 
embraced  in  the  "Report  on  Surgery"  in  1850,  by  Profes- 
sor Mussey,  who  says  :  .  "  Of  all  the  achievements  of  mod- 
ern surgery,  we  meet  with  none  more  striking  or  extraor- 
dinary than  the  operations  performed  by  Professor  Atlee 
for  the  removal  of  intra-uterine  fibrous  tumors." 

Professor  Pallen,  in  his  prize  essay  presented  to  the 
American  Medical  Association  in  1869,  says:  "'In  1853, 
Dr.  Washington  L.  Atlee  startled  the  profession  by  his 
method  of  heroically  attacking  uterine  tumors  with  the 
knife His  successes  were  numerous,  and  the  in- 
genuity of  his  devices  are  deserving  of  the  highest  com- 
mendation." And  Dr.  J.  Marion  Sims,  in  the  "New  York 
Medical  Journal,"  April,  1874,  writes  :  "The  name  of  Atlee 
stands  without  a  rival  in  connection  with  uterine  fibroids. 
His  operations  were  so  heroic  that  no  man  has  as  yet  dared 
to  imitate  him.  A  generation  has  passed  since  he  gave 
to  the  world  his  valuable  essay  on  the  surgical  treatment 
of  fibrous  tumors  of  the  uterus ;  but  it  is  only  within  the 
last  five  or  six  years  that  the  profession  have  come  to 
appreciate  the  great  truths  which  he  labored  to  establish. 
Meadows,  of  London,  and  Thomas,  of  New  York,  have  each 
achieved  splendid  results  in  this  direction,  and  made  valu- 
able contributions  to  our  literature.  A  few  isolated  cases 
of  fibroid  enucleation  have  been  published  by  others,  and 
this  is  about  all  that  we  can  boast  of  since  Atlee  first  led 
the  way  for  us." 

1  Prize  Essay,  p.  25. 


1 8  IN  ME  MORI  AM. 

The  last  paper  which  he  wrote  on  this  subject  was  en- 
titled "The  Treatment  of  Fibroid  Tumors  of  the  Uterus." 
It  was  read  before  the  International  Medical  Congress,  Sep- 
tember, 1876.  In  it  he  gave  the  result  of  his  great  expe- 
rience in  the  treatment  of  these  growths,  both  by  medical 
and  surgical  means.  This  elaborate  paper  evinced  great 
originality  and  was  warmly  applauded  by  the  section  before 
which  it  was  read,  composed  of  some  of  the  most  distin- 
guished men  in  this  branch  of  medical  science.  He  was 
frequently  urged  to  give  the  profession  the  benefit  of  his 
long  and  valuable  experience  in  a  book  on  the  treatment 
of  abdominal  tumors.  This  he  had  promised  and  fully  in- 
tended to  accomplish  as  soon  as  he  could  spare  the  time, 
but  it  was  put  off  for  some  future  period  of  leisure,  which, 
unhappily,  was  destined  never  to  arrive. 

With  all  these  engrossing  labors,  he  never  ceased  to  feel 
the  warmest  interest  in  the  general  welfare  of  the  profes- 
sion. He  took  an  active  part  in  the  organization  of  the 
Philadelphia  County  Medical  Society,  of  the  Medical  Soci- 
ety of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  and  of  the  American 
Medical  Association.  He  was,  also,  one  of  the  Founders 
of  the  American  Gynecological  Society.  In  all  of  these 
bodies  he  retained  his  membership  until  his  death.  Of  the 
Philadelphia  County  Medical  Society,  he  was  president  in 
1874,  and  president  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  State  of 
Pennsylvania  and  vice-president  of  the  American  Medical 
Association  in  1875.  Of  this  Society  he  was  first  vice- 
president  in  1876  and  again  in  1877. 

At  the  meetings  of  these  bodies,  "  he  was  known  as  a 
brilliant  extempore  speaker  and  an  able  debater ;  his  in- 
fluence being  always  exerted  in  favor  of  a  higher  medical 
education,  and  of  a  broad  and  liberal  construction  of  the 
rights  and  duties  of  medical  life."1  In  his  long  connection 
with  these  societies,  he  allowed  nothing  but  the  most  ur- 
gent engagements  or  sickness  to  interfere  with  his  attend- 
ance on  their  meetings.  That  this  interest  was  earnest  and 
sincere,  was  well  seen  in  the  last  journey  which  he  took, 
1  Physicians  and  Surgeons  of  the  United  States,  p.  560. 


WASHINGTON  LEMUEL  ATLEE.  ig 

which  was  to  attend  the  meeting  of  the  State  Society  at 
Pittsburg  in  May,  1878.  He  was  then  so  feeble  as  to  re- 
quire support  in  walking,  and  so  emaciated  that  every  move- 
ment was  painful  to  him,  yet  he  endured  the  trying  journey 
merely  to  meet  them  once  more. 

It  is  almost  needless  to  say  that,  with  his  warm  attach- 
ment to  his  profession,  he  was  scrupulously  correct  in  all 
that  related  to  medical  ethics,  and,  in  his  intercourse  with 
his  medical  brethren,  honorable  and  considerate. 

But  these  professional  labors  of  a  life  give  us  but  little 
idea  of  the  man,  except  of  his  capacity  for  work,  his  unceas- 
ing industry,  and  his  untiring  energy.  In  this  brief  sketch 
no  allusion  has  been  made  to  his  more  marked  personal 
traits,  but  a  memoir  of  him  would  indeed  be  incomplete 
which  should  fail  to  represent  that  he  was  a  most  devoted 
husband.  This  devotion  which  commenced  in  his  very 
early  days,  and  only  ceased  with  life,  was  a  beautiful 
feature  in  his  character,  which,  although  it  may  be  thus 
mentioned,  is  too  sacred  to  be  dwelt  upon. 

He  was  an  affectionate  father,  a  firm  and  warm  friend, 
and  a  thoroughly  conscientious,  honest,  and  truthful  man. 
These  last  traits  were  so  well  known  to  his  patients  that 
their  confidence  in  him  was  unbounded.  He  invariably 
spoke  plainly  in  regard  to  the  dangers  of  an  operation, 
concealing  nothing  from  the  one  who  was,  he  knew,  the 
most  interested  in  the  result.  His  fatherly  manner  in  do- 
ing this,  relieved  much  of  the  shock  which  the  poor  sufferer 
must  have  felt  if  told  in  a  different  way.  Neither,  when 
the  occasion  required  it,  did  he  conceal  from  the  patient  the 
near  approach  of  death,  but  gave  timely  warning,  that  prep- 
aration might  be  made  for  the  dread  event. 

In  person  he  was  above  the  ordinary  stature,  erect  and 
commanding  in  his  carriage,  his  face  benevolent,  his  man- 
ner courteous  and  dignified,  and,  although  kind,  forbidding- 
familiarity.  In  the  sick-room  he  was  uniformly  cheerful  and 
as  tender  and  sympathetic  as  a  woman.  His  very  appear- 
ance inspired  confidence.  His  movements  were  quick  and 
decided,  indicative  of  his  character.    Although  nearly  three 


20  IN  MEMORIAM. 

score  years  and  ten,  his  eye  was  undimmed,  his  mind  was 
strong  and  clear,  his  perceptions  quick,  and  his  judgment 
sound.  He  was  a  man  of  strong  feelings,  but  had  com- 
plete control  of  them.  Although  firm  in  his  opinions,  he 
was  tolerant  of  those  of  others. 

His  robust  frame  could  endure  an  immense  amount  of 
work  without  fatigue  ;  and  frequently,  after  a  journey  con- 
suming days  and  nights  he  would  arrive  home  early  in  the 
morning,  and,  without  rest,  go  on  with  his  daily  duties. 
He  was  a  most  methodical  man.  His  punctuality  at  consul- 
tations was  well  known,  and  he  was  as  sure  to  be  present  at 
the  minute  at  distant  places  as  in  city  practice.  His  ar- 
rangements for  journeys  were  all  completed,  the  routes 
written  out  in  full,  together  with  the  time  at  which  he 
would  reach  certain  points,  if  possible,  the  day  before  he 
started.  A  copy  of  the  route  was  left  at  home,  and  no  mat- 
ter how  distant  the  place,  his  family  were  always  sure  of  a 
letter  or  telegram  reaching  him. 

His  determination  to  keep  engagements  sometimes  led 
him  into  danger,  as  the  following  incident  will  show.  In 
March,  1875,  he  made  an  appointment  to  operate,  at  a  cer- 
tain hour,  at  Good  Thunder,  Blue  Earth  County,  Minnesota. 
When  some  distance  from  the  place,  a  fearful  storm 
arose,  and  the  road  became  blocked  with  snow.  It  was 
found  impossible  for  the  cars  to  proceed.  He  learned,  on 
inquiry,  that  he  could  only  keep  his  appointment  by  riding 
twenty-five  miles  across  the  prairies.  Old  inhabitants 
warned  him  against  the  ride,  and  said  it  was  madness  to 
attempt  it  in  such  a  storm.  But,  determined  to  keep  his 
engagement  if  possible,  and  having  secured  the  services  of 
a  man  with  a  sleigh,  he  and  his  daughter,  who  generally 
accompanied  him  on  his  journeys,  started  on  the  perilous 
ride.  It  was  a  wild  waste  of  hard  frozen  snow,  no  road  be- 
ing visible,  and  even  the  fences  being  covered.  The  storm 
increased,  and  they  were  almost  blinded  with  the  sleet,  but 
they  drove  on  trusting  that  they  would  reach  the  place  in 
time.  When  about  half  through  the  journey,  the  driver  lost 
his  way,  and  the  sleigh  striking  some  obstacle,  which  proved 


WASHINGTON  LEMUEL  ATLEE.  21 

to  be  the  top  of  a  fence,  was  upset  and  all  were  thrown  out. 
The  driver  was  discouraged,  but  urged  by  the  doctor,  who 
busied  himself  in  replacing  the  wraps  and  satchels,  they 
started  again,  and  finally  reached  their  destination  in  time 
to  keep  the  appointment,  and  perform  the  operation.  He 
was  rewarded  by  the  recovery  of  the  patient. 

Benevolence  was  a  strongly  marked  feature  in  his  charac- 
ter. This  he  practised  in  his  daily  life  ;  but  it  was  only 
known  to  the  recipient  of  his  bounty,  for  he  followed  the 
rule,  "let  not  thy  left  hand  know  what  thy  right  hand 
doeth."  Many  instances  of  this  could.be  recited,  but  one 
or  two  will  be  sufficient.  A  poor  woman  in  Alabama,  af- 
flicted with  an  abdominal  tumor,  had  heard  of  his  skill,  and 
was  urgent  to  have  his  professional  assistance,  but  having 
no  means,  and  living  at  such  a  distance,  she  felt  sure  she 
could  not  secure  his  services.  She  finally  concluded  to 
write  to  him  and  tell  her  needs.  She  did  so.  Leaving  his 
lucrative  practice,  he  went  to  Alabama,  paying,  of  course, 
his  own  expenses,  operated  on  her  successfully,  and  she 
now  lives  to  bless  his  memory. 

In, his  last  illness,  when,  from  suffering,  life  had  become 
a  burden,  he  was  written  to  concerning  a  case  of  tumor  in 
a  poor  young  girl,  who  had  gone  to  Scotland,  her  native 
place,  to  seek  relief.  There  she  had  been  told  that  nothing 
could  be  done  for  her,  and  had  been  sent  back  to  die.  In 
his  feeble  condition,  when  every  movement  was  painful,  we 
may  be  sure  that  no  pecuniary  consideration  would  have 
been  sufficient  to  induce  him  to  leave  his  home.  Touched 
by  her  story  he  went  to  Clearfield,  Penn.,  a  journey  of  twelve 
hours,  and  removed  an  ovarian  tumor,  which  weighed  more 
than  she  did  ;  such  an  immense  mass  was  it,  and  so  small 
and  emaciated  was  the  woman,  that  he  described  it  as  cut- 
ting away  the  patient  from  the  tumor.  She  recovered. 
Another  well-marked  trait  was  his  generous  hospitality. 
His  house  was  rarely  without  guests,  who  were  always  re- 
ceived with  a  hearty  cordiality,  which  made  them  feel  that 
they  were  truly  welcome. 

He  was  a  religious  man,  not  ostentatious,  nor  one  who 


22  IN  ME  MORI  AM. 

loved  to  parade  his  goodness  before  the  world  ;  but  those 
who  knew  him  best  can  testify  to  his  thorough  conscientious 
regard  for  all  his  Christian  duties.  When  but  a  young  man 
he  was  confirmed  in  Christ  Church,  Philadelphia,  by  the 
venerable  Bishop  White,  and  ever  remained  a  consistent 
professor  of  religion,  conscience  influencing  every  impor- 
tant action  of  his  daily  life. 

"A  life  well  spent,  whose  early  care  it  was 

His  riper  years  should  not  upbraid  his  green." 

After  contributing  so  much  to  the  relief  of  human  suffer- 
ing, it  might  have  been  hoped  that  his  last  days  would  have 
been  peaceful,  and  free  from  pain,  but,  in  April,  1876,  the 
disease  which  terminated  his  life  after  intense  suffering, 
seized  on  him.  At  this  date  he  performed  operations  in 
three  different  cities  on  three  succeeding  days,  travelling 
for  this  purpose  three  nights  in  succession.  One  of  the 
patients  on  whom  he  operated  was  suffering  from  cancer  of 
the  uterus.  He  returned  home  feeling  greatly  prostrated, 
and  at  once  took  to  his  bed.  He  had  a  low  fever,  a  tym- 
panitic abdomen,  and  tenderness  in  the  left  iliac  region,  — 
in  fact  had  most  of  the  symptoms  of  a  patient  in  the  second 
week  of  typhoid  fever.  He  recovered  from  this  in  about 
ten  days,  but  from  that  time  his  health  failed,  he  lost  color, 
and  emaciated  rapidly.  About  six  months  before  his  death 
he  was  attacked  with  rheumatism,  which,  together  with 
obstinate  attacks  of  vomiting,  added  greatly  to  his  distress, 
but  no  marked  local  disease  manifested  itself  until  last 
February,  when  a  small,  hard  mass  was  found  projecting 
below  the  border  of  the  ribs,  on  the  left  side.  This  in- 
creased rapidly,  and,  by  June,  extended  from  the  nipple  to 
the  anterior  superior  spinous  process  of  the  ilium.  It 
consisted  of  a  comparatively  soft  mass  above,  terminating 
below  in  hard  nodules.  It  was  supposed  to  be  a  malignant 
disease  of  the  spleen. 

The  liver  was  also  greatly  enlarged,  its  lower  border  touch- 
ing the  anterior  superior  spinous  process  of  the  ilium  of 
the  right  side.     In  the  latter  part  of  June  the  tumor  slowly 


WASHINGTON  LEMUEL  ATLEE.  2$ 

diminished  in  size,  and  continued  to  contract  until  nothing 
could  be  felt  of  it  except  the  hard  nodules  just  below  the 
ribs. 

In  the  autopsy,  made  twenty-four  hours  after  death,  the 
spleen  was  found  enlarged  to  about  twice  its  usual  size,  but 
was  healthy  in  structure.  It  was  located  more  anteriorly 
than  normal,  and  just  under  it  was  a  large  tumor,  which  a 
careful  examination  proved  to  be  the  left  kidney.  It 
reached  from  the  diaphragm  above  to  the  promontory  of 
the  sacrum  below,  and  was  firmly  adherent  to  the  parts 
beneath  it,  incorporating  the  aorta  and  other  vessels  in  its 
mass.  Its  estimated  weight  was  between  two  and  three 
pounds.  It  proved  to  be  a  medullary  cancer  of  the  left 
kidney,  its  upper  border  being  hard,  while  the  remainder 
of  the  growth  was  cerebriform. 

In  its  early  stage  it  evidently  pressed  on  the  vessels  of 
the  spleen  and  liver,  producing  congestion  of  these  organs, 
which  in  the  last  two  months  was  relieved  by  the  softening 
of  the  mass.  The  spleen  being  thus  greatly  enlarged  and 
covering  the  diseased  kidney  like  a  cushion  led  us  into  the 
error  of  supposing  it  the  organ  at  fault.  The  urine  was 
carefully  and  frequently  examined  in  all  stages  of  the  dis- 
ease, but  nothing  abnormal  was  ever  found  in  it.  The  right 
kidney  was  rather  larger  than  normal,  and  contained  in  its 
cortical  substance  a  number  of  cysts,  some  of  them  as  large 
as  a  nutmeg  and  filled  with  a  yellowish  fluid.  The  liver  was 
healthy,  but  the  cystic  duct  contained  a  calculus  of  large 
size,  which  completely  obstructed  it.  The  duct  was  fully 
an  inch  in  diameter,  and,  like  the  gall-bladder,  was  filled 
with  a  colorless,  watery  fluid  which  was  slightly  opalescent. 
Under  the  microscope  this  fluid  was  seen  to  contain  groups 
of  pavement  epithelial  cells  of  small  size,  which  had  under- 
gone fatty  degeneration,  and  large  quantities  of  crystals  of 
cholesterin.  When  boiled  it  was  found  to  be  slightly  al- 
buminous. 

The  stomach  was  distended,  but  healthy,  except  a  slight 
thickening  about  the  pyloric  orifice. 

The  heart  contained,  in  the  right  ventricle,  and  firmly 


24  IN  MEMORIAM. 

attached  to  its  right  wail  and  to  the  columnar  carneae,  a 
growth  of  a  light  fawn  color  and  firm  consistence,  about  the 
size  of  a  large  English  walnut.  It  was  situated  just  below 
the  tricuspid  valves.  The  mitral  valves  were  thickened, 
but  the  aortic  valves  were  healthy. 

I  have  purposely  mentioned  the  fact  of  his  having  oper- 
ated upon  a  case  of  cancer  of  the  uterus  just  before  his 
fatal  illness,  and  of  his  having  been  at  once  seized  with  the 
symptoms  of  blood-poisoning.  His  family  on  both  sides 
had  been  free  from  cancer,  no  case  of  this  disease  having 
ever  happened  to  any  member.  The  suspicion  is  thus  ex- 
cited that  he  might  have  been  inoculated  with  this  virus 
during  the  operation. 

The  disease  having  been  recognized  in  February,  all  hope 
of  cure  was  abandoned,  but  he  persisted  in  attending  to  his 
practice,  and  continued  to  operate  until  three  months  before 
his  death.  His  last  operation  was  performed  at  Sligo, 
Clarion  County,  May  31,  1878.  This  was  his  three  hun- 
dred and  eighty-seventh  case  of  ovariotomy. 

Although  he  continued  to  attend  to  office  patients  for 
some  time  after  this,  his  suffering  and  weakness  soon  con- 
fined him  to  his  room,  and  compelled  him  to  divide  his  time 
between  a  reclining  chair  and  his  bed.  He  settled  all  his 
worldly  affairs,  yet  he  did  not  lose  his  interest  in  his  pro- 
fession, but  continued  to  read  the  medical  journals  and  see 
his  friends,  making  but  little  complaint  and  patiently  await- 
ing the  final  summons.  The  waste  of  body  did  not  impair 
his  intellectual  faculties,  for  his  mind  remained  clear  until 
the  last.  Although  he  knew  that  his  end  was  rapidly  ap- 
proaching, he  showed  no  fear  of  death,  but  welcomed  it,  not 
or\ly  as  a  relief  but  as  a  means  of  realizing  his  hopes  as  a 
Christian. 

"  About  the  hour  of  eight  (which  he  himself 
Foretold  should  be  his  last), 
He  gave  his  honors  to  the  world  again, 

His  blessed  part  to  heaven,  and  slept  in  peace." 

The  following  resolutions  offered  by  Professor  Gross,  and 
adopted  by  the  Philadelphia  County  Medical  Society,  well 


WASHINGTON  LEMUEL  ATLEE.  2$ 

express  the  feeling  of  the  medical  profession,  in  regard  to 
his  death :  — 

Resolved,  That  we  deeply  lament  the  demise  of  a  man  who  for 
nearly  half  a  century  was  a  devoted  and  faithful  student  of  his 
profession,  —  a  profession  which  he  adorned  by  his  private  vir- 
tues and  illustrated  by  his  successful  practice  as  a  physician,  an 
obstetrician,  and  a  gynecologist. 

Resolved,  That  Dr.  Atlee,  as  one  of  the  pioneers  in  ovariotomy 
in  this  country,  —  an  operation  which  he  performed  nearly  four 
hundred  times,  —  rendered  most  important  service  in  recalling, 
as  he  did,  the  attention  of  the  profession  to  the  practicability  and 
value  of  that  operation,  and  in  placing  it  upon  a  firm  and  per- 
manent basis  as  one  of  the  established  processes  of  the  healing 
art,  at  the  same  time  that,  by  his  private  labors,  he  conferred 
immense  benefit  upon  suffering  women  by  increasing  their  com- 
fort and  prolonging  their  lives. 

Resolved,  That,  as  an  author  and  an  able  thinker,  his  contribu- 
tions to  gynecology,  and  other  branches  of  medicine,  have  shed 
important  light  upon  the  nature  and  treatment  of  female  diseases, 
and  upon  the  operations  necessary  for  their  cure. 

Resolved,  That  the  memory  of  a  physician  who  accomplished 
so  much  for  the  good  of  his  race  should  be  cherished  by  his 
professional  brethren,  as  well  as  the  public,  of  which  he  was  so 
valuable  a  member,  and  that  his  example  as  a  high-toned,  hon- 
orable, and  Christian  gentleman  is  worthy  of  the  imitation  ot  all 
young  men  engaged  in  the  study  and  practice  of  medicine. 

Thomas  Murray  Drysdale,  M.  D. 


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